Airplane-wing



1. PETROVITCH AIRPLANE WING- APPLICATION FILED DEC- I8 I9I9- Patented Sept. 21,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN PETROVITGH, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

AIRPLANE-WING.

1 353 179 Specification of Letters Patent. Patented S t. 21 1920 Application filed December 18, 1919. Serial No. 345,793.

To all whom it may concern: the motor 8, and the fuselage has secured to Be it known that I, JoHN Pn'rRovrroH, a it the upper and lower planes 9 and 10 which citizen of the United States, residing at are kept in a parallel relation to each other Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and by struts 11. State of Ohio, have invented certain new The foregoing parts are ofastandard conand useful Improvements in Airplanestruction and will therefore require no fur- Wings, of which the following is a specifither description, it being understood that cation. the particular construction of parts per- This invention relates to a new and novel taining strictly to this invention may be ap- 65 construction in the wings or planes for airplied to numerous types of air-planes.

planes, and it has for its object to provide To allow the wings to fold in a compact a construction whereby the said wings may manner and parallel to the sides of the fusebe mechanically folded in a plane parallel lage struts l1 hereinbefore referred to are to that of the fuselage so that the airplane hinged to the upper and lower planes at 12/T0 15 may be driven in congested districts and and 13. The particular type of hin e en 1- may be conveniently housed. ployed will depend entirely upo the use to A further object of the invention is the which the plane is intended/to be put and provision of means whereby the drlvlng may be of any design hey are therefore be embodied in the power plant of the veears 1% whi are secured to the planes and hicle. have n ed between them the reduced ends Further objects of the invention are in the the struts 11. The ends of the planes provision of mechanical means for reversi which are adjacent to the fuselage, when the the operation of the planes, and mo 1m1tplanes are in an extended or flying position, 80

ed objects of the invention are part obviare secured to a frame 16 which has driving ous and in part will ap ea iereafter. connection with a large gear 17. This frame The invention co pfi es the construction 16 is shown most clearly in Fig. 2 and comand combination of parts hereinafter deprises two vertical portions 18 having sescribed claimed. cured at their ends horizontal struts 19. 5

Referring particularly to the drawings The struts 19 are hinged to the ends of the wherein like reference ,pumerals designate wings 10 in identically the same manner as mechanism for driving the said planes may shown in this in ce as consisting of two 75 similar parts of reference throughout the the struts 11 as hereinbefore described.

various views Figure 1 is a plan view of It is obvious that in order to open the the vehicle, showing the Wings in a folded planes for use the ends of the planes must go position; Fig. 2 is a side elevation, the outnecessarily be guided to assume a position side wing being partially broken away to substantially at right angles to the position more clearly illustrate the construction of they are in in Fig. 1, and to provide for this the struts; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the rollers 20 are secured to the aforesaid planes vehicle, the wings being shown in an open by means of a bracket 21 secured thereto in 95 or flying position; Fig. 4 is a horizontal any convenient manner and are guided section through the forward part of the within arcuate tracks 22. The tracks 22 fuselage showing the driving motor and its are supported upon each side of the forward associated gearing for driving the wings, part of the fuselage and at their upper and and Fig. 5 is a sectional detail showing the lower ends by arms 23 which are rigidly 100 manner in which the wings are secured to a fastened to the fuselage and in cross section substantially circular track to be hereinappear as to channel irons having their after described. open faces presented to each other, and hav As illustrated the invention comprises the ing confined between their horizontal webs customary fuselage 1 mounted at its forthe rollers 20, said rollers being mounted 105 ward end upon the usual landing wheels 2 upon an axle 24 carried by the bracket 21.

and provided at its rearward end with a These tracks, due to their peculiar form proskid 3. The fuselage is also provided with vide a means for positively guiding the ends the customary tail and elevating planes 4: of the wings when assuming the flying posiand 5 and with a rudder 6 at this end. A tion and also tend to act as a locking point 110 propeller 7 is placed in the forward part of to provide stability for said wings when the the fuselage and has driving connection with same are in an open or flying position.

The wings are mechanically operated through the gears 17 hereinbefore referred to and which are pivoted upon suitable bearings 25 formed as a part of the fuselage and have meshing with them driving pinions 26 keyed or otherwise fixed to a shaft 27 which is also mounted in bearings upon the fuselage and extends through each side thereof. This shaft 27 has loosely mounted thereon a pair of bevel gears 28 and 29 which are driven through a bevel gear 30 fixed to the extended crank shaft of the motor. The gears 28 and 29 being loosely mounted upon the shaft 27 are prevent-ed from becoming displaced with respect to the upon the shaft 27 the wings 9 and 10 may be alternately raised or lowered. This construction comprises a shifting clutch 32 which is splined upon the shaft 27 intermediate of the gears 28 and 29. Said gears have upon their innermost faces clutch teeth 33 which are adapted to mesh with the ln%c hb32 when the same is shifted by a lever 34 x-dto any convenient part of the fuselage, as fornstance, one of the cross stays indicated at 35. T he lever 34: being provided with a forked M13011 straddles the clutch member 32. The foregoigg description of driving mechanism is only typigal of the numerous mechanism which may be eni- 35 ployed for th s purpose and I therefore do not wish to limit myself in the construction and combination of parts further than is required by the state of the art or that which comes within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with an air-plane body, of upper and lower wings pivotally connected thereto and to each other to fold flatly beside the sides of the body, the pivoted connection to the body being rotatable as a whole to swing the wings to ordinary horizontal position when m use.

2. The combination with an air-plane body, of a rotary frame mounted on each side of the body, on an axis transverse to said body, upper and lower folding wings pivotally connected to said frames, and struts pivotally connected between said wlngs.

3. The combination with an air-plane body, of a rotary frame mounted on each side of the body, on an axis transverse to said body and upper and lower folding wings pivotally connected to said frames, the body being also provided with guides engaged by the inner ends of the upper wings, to swing the wings from horizontal to vertical position as they are folded.

4. The combination with an air-plane body, of a rotary frame mounted on each side of the body, on an axis transverse to said body and folding wings pivotally connected to said frames, and a power device geared to said frames to rotate the same.

5. The combination with an air-plane body, of a pair of upper and lower wings at each side thereof, pivoted struts between the wings, a rotary frame mounted on a trans verse axis at each side of the body and fixed to the struts at the inner ends of the wings, and means to guide the wings from open horizontal to folded vertical position, or vice versa, when the frames are rotated.

6. The combination with an air-plane body, of a rotary frame mounted on each side of the body, on an axis transverse to said body and folding wings pivotally connectedt said frames, the bod bein rovided w ith cury ed guide bal s eXte nd ing from the sides of the loody to position above the same, and the wingshaving rollers engaging said bars to turn the wings to horizontal or vertical position as the framesare rotated one way or the other. 00

In testimony whereof, I do aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN PETROVITCH. Witnesses:

LEO E. CARROLL, RUDOLPH HAwLIK. 

